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Friday, February 28, 2014

The inspiration for THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY came from rural farm auctions; I've been going since I was a kid, and these days, I go with my brother (a full-time antiques dealer). You don't leave a farm auction without discovering repurposed items somewhere: dresses made from feedsack material, stools made of Coke crates, bird feeders made from Ball fruit jars...

The deeper I dove into the manuscript, though, the more I began to learn about folk art environments like the Watts Towers in California, or the Orange Show in Texas, or Vollis Simpson's Whirligig Farm in North Carolina. I knew I wanted to write about artists who created a work of art they could live inside.

The Watts Towers

Because I'm such a fan of folk art, I had to weigh in on the fate of the former Folk Art Museum, located near MoMA. The piece runs today in Am New York.

Monday, February 24, 2014

I'm now deep in the midst of reading the first-pass pages for FERAL, due out this August. (Actually, it's first-pass for HarperCollins, but last-pass for me. This is my last chance to rake my fine-toothed comb through the manuscript. Copyedits are always such a nerve-wracking and exciting process...)

FERAL also has an updated jacket copy on Goodreads, which is slightly different than the jacket copy released during the FERAL reveal...Gotta say, I love the new copy:

The Lovely
Bones meets Black Swan in this haunting psychological thriller with
twists and turns that will make you question everything you think you
know.

It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words
continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal
beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another
state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start
anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an
overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she
discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods
behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone
is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and
vows to learn the truth about what happened.

But the closer she
gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a
frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in
that Chicago alley….

Holly Schindler’s gripping story is filled
with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing
until the very last page.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

My next YA, FERAL, releases with HarperCollins August 26, 14. Though it'll be my third YA, it will also be my first thriller, first mystery, as both the cover and jacket copy reveal:

It’s
too late for you. You’re dead.

Those words float through Claire Cain’s
head as she lies broken and barely alive after a brutal beating. And the words
continue to haunt her months later, in the relentless, terrifying nightmares
that plague her sleep. So when her father is offered a teaching sabbatical in
another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out of Chicago, away from the
things that remind her of what she went through, will offer a way to start
anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar,
Missouri, Claire quickly realizes something is wrong—the town is brimming with
hidden dangers and overrun by feral cats. And her fears are confirmed when a
popular high school girl, Serena Sims, is suddenly found dead in the icy woods
behind the school. While everyone is quick to say Serena died in an accident,
Claire knows there’s more to it—for she was the one who found Serena, battered
and most certainly dead, surrounded by the town’s feral cats.

Now Claire vows to learn the truth
about what happened, but the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the
closer she also gets to discovering a frightening reality about herself and the
damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley. . . .

With an eerie setting and
heart-stopping twists and turns, Holly Schindler weaves a gripping story that
will make you question everything you think you know.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Just a week after the release of my debut MG, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, the cover for my next YA, FERAL, will go live. I've got 118 bloggers participating in the reveal; the cover and the official jacket copy will be visible across the web this Thursday (and, of course, it'll also be found here, at Novel Anecdotes).

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Happy Book Birthday to Auggie and the rest of the characters in THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY! Click to order. And be sure to read my interview with Lindsay Andrews, cover designer for THE JUNCTION, in the post below.

On the book birthday of THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, Lindsey Andrews has stopped by the blog. THE JUNCTION is about art, and Lindsey is the designer behind the cover of THE JUNCTION; what better way to celebrate the release than to dish on the cover art?1.What’s
your background—how did you come to a career as an artist?I
was always really into my art classes growing up and then learned about
Graphic Design my senior year of high school. I immediately knew this
was the field I wanted to go into and study in college. I was always
that weird organized art kid. From there I went to James Madison
University in Virginia and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts concentrating
in Graphic Design.

2.How
did you become a cover illustrator specifically?

I
have always loved reading, especially Young Adult books. But, I never
really thought about the publishing companies that actually made books
happen until my best friend in college pointed out that maybe I could
design book covers for them. So I started doing my research and I
eventually got called for an internship at Hachette Book Group in their
adult cover art department. I loved the publishing world so much that I
came back to intern for a second summer after I graduated and I was
lucky enough to get a full-time position there after my internship!

3.How
did you come to this assignment?

I
came onto this project very soon after making the move to Penguins'
childrens department. I came in towards the end of the project. There
was actually a first cover that everyone was starting to second guess
and my team decided they wanted to try a different approach. So, from
there I got to take on the project and immediately wanted to try the
idea of actually making a sign out of junk, as if the characters in the
book had made it themselves.

4.What
is the process for generating ideas for a cover?

We
usually start off by having a conversation with the editor about the
book. They also fill out an art form for us which has all of the basic
information that we need to start working. From that, I usually begin to
brainstorm by sketching and making lists. Then I usually go online for a
bit to find some visuals to work from or possibly use on the cover.
Then I'll read the book and take notes and do the process again from the
key words I generate.

5.I
love so many details on THE JUNCTION—the patchy grass in the yard, the
wrought-iron gate, the corrugated metal used for the sign. How familiar were you with the book when you
designed the cover? Can you ever know too much about a book—does it keep you
from focusing on a single idea?

This
project came up so suddenly and had to be finished so fast that I
actually did not get a chance to read the entire manuscript before
working on the cover. But, your very detailed notes about the story were
very helpful and that's where I immediately got attached to the idea of
making the sign.

In
general, it is helpful to read a manuscript before designing the cover
because you do want to make sure you get the details right. But, it can
also be a hindrance because all of the sudden you want to put TOO many
details on the cover, when it really should be a more boiled-down,
simplified idea. So, I usually try to do an initial brainstorming
session when I only know a summary of the book. I'll see how far I get
with that and then read the full story to get more ideas and a better
sense of the overall feeling of the book.

6.What
are the tools of your trade: paints, pens, computer?

I
definitely work mostly on the computer. Lots of InDesign and Photoshop!
But, it's nice to try to get back to pen and paper every once and
awhile, so when a project calls for it I try to create some things by
hand and scan them onto the computer.

7.What
was the most challenging part of creating this cover?

The
most challenging part of making this cover was trying to figure out how
to actually put the pieces together in Photoshop and make it look as
real as possible (yet, still illustrated). I had our two of our interns
help find photos and figure out how to form the letters. It was
definitely difficult to make sure the title was readable. And luckily,
we were even able to use pieces from the first version of the cover (the
tree and the other junkyard sculptures seen on the rest of the jacket).

8.As
a writer, I find the first draft to be the most painful, but I love revision. What’s your favorite part of creating
covers—brainstorming, finishing touches, etc.?

I'm
actually very similar to you! Just starting a project can be really
difficult. Specifically, I usually enjoy the initial brainstorming, but
the moment I sit down and try to make those ideas into actual covers I
start to doubt myself. Suddenly some of those ideas are very hard to
make tangible. But, once I can get passed that initial round of ideas
it's like getting passed the first bump and being able to ride more
smoothly.

9.Who
is your own favorite cover designer or illustrator?

I really admire Jennifer Heuer's (http://www.jenniferheuer.com/)
process of designing. I was able to work with her on a project while
working at Little, Brown, and she's very creative. I really admire her
ability to think out of the box and create as many things by hand as
possible.

10.What
is your favorite illustration technique or “trick”?

I
think my best illustration technique is in fact my ability to pick the
right illustrator to work with and develop my skills of art directing
along the way. Working in children's books allows us to work with a wide
range of amazingly talented illustrators, photographers, and designers.
It's all in knowing how to match someone's strengths to the right
project and help to guide them along the way. These partnerships really
make our jobs more fun and the projects more rewarding.

11.Can
we see some images of your workspace?

I
tend to work amongst organized chaos. I'm a very organized person but
as a designer working on many different projects at a time it all has to
go somewhere! So I tend to have little piles all over my work space.
Other than that, I collect more books than I'll ever have time to read
and I like to cover my walls in photos and illustrations that inspire
me.

12.When
you’re at work on non-assignment artwork, what does it look like? Any images you can share?

I
don't actually partake in my own artwork anymore. I was always perhaps a
little too practical for a typical art student and really only liked to
spend time working on something if there was an assignment or useful
purpose for it. And now that I work all day designing I often come home
and just like to relax by reading and catching up on my favorite TV
shows. But, back in school I was always into photo realism. I really
enjoyed studying an object or person and drawing them as accurately as
possible. I've included an example from college where I had to draw a
person's face using only dots and different kinds of lines.

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About Me

I think the first thing I ever did in life was grab a pen and a cup of coffee...I love my caffeine, but I'm addicted to literature—reading and writing it. I'm the author of both critically acclaimed traditionally published and Amazon bestselling independently published works for readers of all ages. I'm owned by a Pekingese named Jake, and can be found writing my next book in my hometown of Springfield, Missouri. The full list of my awards and published books can be found at HollySchindler.com

Princess Leftover

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GOT E-COPIES OF MY BOOKS?

THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY (MG Contemporary)

WORDQUAKE

THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY TEASER TRAILER

AN "AUGGIE-STYLE" TRAILER FOR THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY

THE JUNCTION SNEAK PEEK!

FERAL (YA Psychological Thriller)

RESPONSE TO FERAL:

"Opening with back-to-back scenes of exquisitely imagined yet very real horror, Schindler's third YA novel hearkens to the uncompromising demands of her debut, A Blue So Dark...This time, the focus is on women's voices and the consequences they suffer for speaking...This is a story about reclaiming and healing, a process that is scary, imperfect, and carries no guarantees." - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW

"In the town of Peculiar, the cats aren't the only ones keeping secrets...A dark and creepy psychological who-done-it that will keep you guessing until the very end." - Jody Casella, author of THIN SPACE

"Wow! This book starts off with a bang - two of them, actually - and then it sinks its claws into you and never lets go." - April Henry, New York Times-bestselling author

FERAL TRAILER

PRAISE FOR THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY

"Axioms like 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' and 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' come gracefully to life in Schindler's tale about the value of hard work and the power of community…Auggie's enthusiasm and unbridled creativity are infectious, and likeminded readers will envy her creative partnership with [her grandfather] Gus." – Publishers Weekly

“Determined to save her home, Auggie [uses] pottery shards, vivid glass, and metal sculptures [to] transform the house’s exterior into a vibrant expression of the love within its walls. In Auggie, Schindler creates a spunky, sympathetic character young readers will engage with and enjoy.” – The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Book Studies

“The protagonist perches in the reader’s heart as she goes about trying to “‘discover her shine.’” - NY Journal of Books

FIND ME ON FACEBOOK

LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT OF PLAYING HURT

PLAYING HURT

PLAYING HURT TRAILER

OR READ IT YOURSELF - PLAYING HURT EXCERPT

Click the cover to start reading!

LOVE FOR PLAYING HURT

Schindler's "excellent" second novel "explore[s] the sometimes painful, sometimes passionate road to healing."—Brian Katcher, author of ALMOST PERFECT“The summer romance between Chelsea and Clint is so steamy that PLAYING HURT could easily become this decade’s version of DIRTY DANCING.”—Kim Tomsic at Bookshelf Detective

“A delicious, tantalizing love story that will captivate you until the final, satisfying sigh.”—Kristin Walker, author of A MATCH MADE IN HIGH SCHOOL

PLAYING HURT REVIEWS

“Both heartbreaking and thrilling…the book speaks to personal struggles and triumphs and the ability of the human spirit to heal. PLAYING HURT is a good read.”—VOYA

“The closing staccato chapters play out like the final minutes of a close game…Supporting characters, especially Chelsea's bass-playing younger brother, are all well drawn. With its rural setting and flirty competitive training scenes, this sexy summer romance will appeal to fans of Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s ‘Dairy Queen’ series.”—School Library Journal

“With no slick, happily-ever-after ending, this novel will capture teens with the characters’ guilt, anger, and, especially, the intensity of the young people’s connection.”—Booklist

MY DEBUT, A BLUE SO DARK

A BLUE SO DARK TRAILER

LISTEN TO A READING OF A BLUE SO DARK

OR READ IT YOURSELF - A BLUE SO DARK EXCERPT

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A BLUE SO DARK AWARDS

* One of Booklist's Top 10 First Novels for Youth

* Silver Medal, ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year

* Gold Medal IPPY Award Winner

REVIEWS FOR MY DEBUT, A BLUE SO DARK

"Breathtakingly, gut-wrenchingly authentic...A haunting, realistic view of the melding of art, creativity, and mental illness and their collective impact on a young person’s life."—Booklist, starred review

"Any story about mental illness will not be an easy read, but a very good one will reward those who stick with it. A BLUE SO DARK definitely falls in that category, so powerful is the empathy the author has built for her main character.—School Library Journal

"An excellent first novel—a definite must-read. Schindler's debut novel is a lyrical tapestry...a work of poetry."—VOYA

ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR A BLUE SO DARK

"A BLUE SO DARK is a raw, compelling and eloquent portrayal of art and madness, and the freeing, healing gift of creativity. Schindler's voice is brilliant and true."—Carrie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of NEED and CAPTIVATE"Schindler's lyrical debut explores the nightmare of mental illness in a voice that is sharp and funny and all her own. This is as real as teen fiction gets. A must-read."—Crissa-Jean Chappell, author of TOTAL CONSTANT ORDER

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JAKE

...Wondering when she'll finally push herself away from the desk so we can go for our walk...